Marine veteran disrupts immigration protests with comedy sign, sparks liberal fury
Dozens of protesters gathered on the steps of the federal courthouse in downtown San Antonio on June 11, waving Mexican flags and signs with slogans like "Keep our city neat — no ICE." In front of them stood a tattoo-covered man wearing an obscene t-shirt and holding his own cardboard sign, on which he'd handwritten "Come to my show @ LOL on June 15."
Heads turned. Confusion turned to anger. The next day, Justin Governale said he saw photos of himself on local social media pages, labeled a "known agitator" by protesters who urged others to "share his face."
"I was like, 'Yeah, keep sharing my face. Let's go,'" Governale joked to Fox News Digital. "Free promotion."
Governale, a former Marine scout sniper, garnered a surge of online attention after crashing demonstrations against ICE and President Donald Trump last week in San Antonio to advertise his comedy show. Many felt he wasn't taking the issue of mass deportations and workplace raids seriously enough.
"Families are being separated and broken apart, meanwhile this guy is using it to publicize himself, sad," one Instagram user wrote in the comments under Governale's video.
"So many people on the left… were arguing with me," Governale said, and making assumptions about him — and his opinions — that weren't necessarily true.
His mother came to the U.S. as a migrant worker from Mexico, he said, picking cherries in Wisconsin. She didn't gain citizenship until Governale was 11 years old.
"When she became an American citizen, she was so freaking proud," he said. "I'm very fortunate to be here."
His mother's experience, coupled with his travels throughout Central America, where he met migrants embarking on dangerous journeys trying to get to the United States, let him see both sides of the issue.
"How can some of these people not want a better life in America? So I don't blame them," he said. "[But] we have to protect our borders. And I'll stand on that. We have to make sure there's a process to do it legally so we can track the people that are coming in and be safe about it."
Governale is no stranger to unorthodox marketing strategies. He often records show announcements selfie-style, with dramatic backdrops including workers picketing outside a rental car company, street fights and even flashing red and blue lights as police and paramedics respond to emergencies.
So when he heard the nationwide protests against the Trump administration's mass deportation policies were coming to his city, he decided to seize the opportunity.
"I kind of went undercover," Governale said, making a decoy sign and holding it over his promotional sign until it was time to snag his video last Wednesday. At the last second, he switched it out. The crowd wasn't pleased, he said.
Nor were they happy when he showed up again on Saturday for the "No Kings" protest with another offbeat sign. As he left the demonstration, Governale said someone on a microphone started describing what he was wearing.
"But I will give it to them. They didn't try and throw punches," he said. "They kept it peaceful."
Thousands of demonstrators showed up for Saturday's march in San Antonio, according to local reports, joining people in hundreds of cities across the nation who oppose the Trump administration. Even though he may not entirely agree with the protesters' message, Governale said that's what the First Amendment is all about.
"That's why I went to Iraq and got blown up, right? So you can say and believe whatever you want, and vice versa," he said.
Governale said he would have pulled his stunt regardless of what people were protesting.
"The nation is so tense and divided right now, it's like, 'Well, let me bring a little humor to the scenario,'" he said.
Governale credits his time in the Marines for his willingness to try anything to make a joke.
"That's why I'm not scared to do things. Life isn't that serious," he said. "Even in your worst moment, you can find a second to laugh. That's what comedy is, dude."
And his marketing strategy appears to have worked. When Governale took the stage Sunday night and held up his cardboard sign, the crowd cheered.
Asked if he'd be attending more protests in the future, Governale's answer was obvious.
"Am I going to troll some more? Hell yeah, I am."
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